It is known in the prior art of locking devices a class of inexpensive mechanical rotary locks with rotatable operating elements borne in the lock housing and operated by a key inserted in the key way of the lock. Such locks normally contain internal protecting mechanism which is mechanically set up to a specifically ciphered protective configuration responsively matching mechanical configuration of the associated key. Typically the ciphering configuration of this type of mechanical locking devices is provided by a plurality of few mechanical tumblers within the lock. The protective ciphering property of such a lock is achieved by variations of the tumblers' lengths, which are compensated by the mechanical configuration of the associated key. This kind of locks are commonly used as the door locks, the car ignition locks, the filing cabinet locks, etc. Though widely used, such locks have certain shortcomings due to its fundamentally mechanical nature, which cannot be easily overcome within the known art.
Said shortcomings are:
relatively limited degree of protecting ability of such locks due to limitation of number of applied tumblers in the lock, and due to the analog nature (rather than digital nature) of the tumblers protecting operation which allows marginal approach to the counterfeiting attempts; PA1 inability to operatively change protective configuration of the lock and the associated key by the user. PA1 substantial increasing of protective security rate of the locking devices due to digital nature of protective coding; PA1 significant increasing of protective capability of the lock application due to possibility of changing the digital protective configuration of the lock and the key by the user when needed, and as frequent as needed; PA1 eliminating necessity of changing the lock when the owner of the installed lock is changed, which is achieved by the lock reconfiguring procedure; PA1 allowing controlled access to the same locking device at different time with plurality of differently configured keys by changing at different time the lock coding configuration, matching the differently configured keys. PA1 It is a further object of this invention to provide a digitally programmable protecting means for mechanical rotary locking devices that will allow easy changing its protective coding configuration by the user; PA1 It is a further object of this invention to provide such a digital protecting means that is easy to install and maintain; PA1 It is still a further object of this invention to provide a key, associated with such a protecting means for locking devices, that can be easily configured and reconfigured by the user.
The first aforementioned shortcoming related to the limited protecting security can be overcome without departing from the price range of the lock by retaining the inexpensive rotatable operating element within the lock, but replacing the mechanical tumbler protecting mechanism by a binary programmable digital coding means with electronic verification, providing controllable high security rate for the protective mechanism.
The shortcoming related to immutability of the mechanical rotary lock can be overcome within the field of digital technology by applying binary bit oriented changeable key coding members.
There are obvious advantages in application of the low cost mechanical locking devices with digitally configured electronically controlled protective means and the digitally mechanically configurable key. They are:
However, in spite of all the aforementioned teachings, a void currently exists within the technology of mechanical rotary locks that provides for the producing of inexpensive digitally coded rotary locks with enhanced protective capability and with the ability to be configured and reconfigured by the user.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a digitally programmable protecting mechanism for mechanical rotary locking devices which will render controllable and very high level of protecting security;
It is further object of this invention to provide digital protecting means and a digital key for mechanical rotary locking devices that will be inexpensive and suitable for mass production.
Further and other objects of this invention will become apparent to a person skilled in the art when considering the following summary of the invention and the more detailed embodiments of the invention illustrated herein.